1.2.3-Pilferingapples
Brick!club Book I: Fantine Book 2 Ch.2 The Heroism of Passive Obedience Or, Whoa, Wait, I Think This Chapter Is Actually About Magloire and Baptistine and I Kind Of Love Hugo Right Now Because look at the title, and look at the only things actually HAPPENING in this chapter— the Bishop allows Valjean in, and Magloire sets the table and prepares the rooms to have him over for the night. The Bishop sits there while Valjean gives us his backstory (and this is why I thought about calling this chapter The Point at Which Knowing The Plot is Actually Distracting Me, but since I can call-response A Group Which Barely Missed Becoming Historic and still love it that is clearly not the real problem here). And Magloire surely does not want to be doing this; but she does, silently and without sulking. And that lets the Bishop do his active listening thing, and gives Valjean time to relax a little, it’s the Deeds part of helping him out and she’s doing it despite her own fear and reluctance. When this part of the story is over, no one, in-story or reading along, is going to remember the woman who set the table. But the title of the chapter is shouting NO LOOK HERE, THIS IS A HARD THING AND DESERVES APPALUSE. Which does a great deal to mollify me, even if my Sensitive Female Instincts are still a bit on guard here. Valjean’s actual story, ugh. My real problem reading his recounting isn’t that I know the plot, it’s that it makes me want to hurl things and shout INJUSTICE and storm the local prison. Which would be counterproductive in every possible way. But yeah. The Bishop and his occasional value clashes are winding down, now commences the story with ALL THE ANGRY MAKING. Can I sustain being enraged for another 700-800 pages? I did it once, but I was younger then… Things to make me ragecry in this chapter: The way Valjean just spills everything the instant he gets the least bit of a chance for conversation, and “there were no stars”— never mind the line about him lacking the sensitivity to think of such things, it’s pretty clear he had no trouble feeling that as a judgement against him. Aaaaand one more parting shot against the organized luxury of the church here, but this one feels especially natural. Valjean just assumes the bishop is a lower-ranking priest, because hey, why would a bishop even be here in this house, talking to him? I bet a lot of Myriel’s fellow bishops would agree. How much *would* the average bishop interact with individual members of their diocese? I honestly have no idea. Myriel’s everywhere, but Myriel’s weird… Commentary Gascon-en-exile Magloire’s obedience here is not only passive but also silent, and in this chapter she performs the duties of a servant in the same manner that such actions are generally treated in pre-20th century literature - quietly and unobtrusively, with understanding of the needs of her master. However, the title of this chapter coupled with her misgivings that we know of from the previous chapter raise her from this obscure position and praise her for her deference to the bishop, all while remaining completely in the background of this chapter. Quite a feat, that. Valjean’s initially defeatist attitude confused me for a while, because he seems to go out of his way to provide Myriel with excuses to throw him out after spending most of 1.2.1 trying to keep as low a profile as possible. In other words, it’s a very aggressive resignation leading to an aggressive exposition dump. If he’d really given up hope and expected to be turned away, why did he even go to Myriel’s at all? Lack of anything better to do? When I think of Valjean, the first version of him that comes to mind is the rue Plumet one, the wealthy, doting, and justifiably paranoid father figure to a teenaged Cosette. That’s probably a result of my Amis fascination, but regardless it’s still a bit of a shock to see him so rough, rude, and relatively uneducated here. He proudly displays the fact that he can in the same way that Éponine later will, though he’s unfamiliar with religious iconography and terminology (and is aware of his ignorance). He compares his treatment to that of dogs both during his prison time and in the preceding Digne episode, so it’s easy to see him as forcibly placed in low and crude circumstances. As big as Hugo is on the importance of education, I could read his journey in terms of intellectual and cultural acquisition as well as in its more overt spiritual dimensions. Linking moral improvement to improvement in other areas is a common theme of Christian theology of various denominations, though, so it’s not as though Hugo is revolutionary in linking them. Kcrabb88 I think a random bit in this chapter that really made me see just how frightened the Bishop’s open door policy makes Magloire, is when she even loses the ability to scream at the sight of Jean Valjean and can only open her mouth in terror. Poor woman, she must be constantly on watch. I love you Bishop, but man, lock the door. Or open it yourself so your housekeeper doesn’t have to fear for her life. But still, she is brave here, and rather than running out or anything like that, does as the Bishop asks, despite her own fear. I do sort of get the sense that while she is “passively obedient” as the chapter title states, Magloire is kind of a tough lady, and I love her. I feel like you’d have to be pretty awesome to deal with this sort of lifestyle. That said, I am glad the door was open for Jean Valjean. Because WOW, poor Jean Valjean. This bit always make me want to go find the judge who sentenced him and deck him pretty hard in the nose. I mean, I know most of his sentence was for the escaping bit (still, that’s extreme) but five years for bread burglary? Come on, French legal and prison system, that’s just…that’s just so unjust I can’t even articulate. But on the subject of a Bishop’s interaction with their individual parishioners, while it is a personal choice, Myriel is unique in how much he interacts with what seems like EVERYONE, because most bishops have so much on their plate that they don’t have the TIME for that. Usually it’s local parish priests who know everyone in their parish by name and interact with them on a regular basis, whereas bishops have entire dioceses under them, which makes the task more difficult and their schedules more spread out among the different parishes. I know Myriel lives in a small place, but goodness, sometimes I don’t know how he accomplishes everything he does.